Seaside Christmas

After three different ecological experiences for Christmas in a row (2009 in the mountains, 2010 in the desert, and now 2011 on the seaside), I have to throw my vote for the seaside. We've stayed in Cape Cod for a couple Christmas' and it was wonderful, but my absolute favourite environment thus far for Christmas is a warm seaside! Next year will be a wonderful reproduction our our honeymoon Christmas in Rome and Malta ten years ago, but that's just an every-five-year special deal. I think my general leaning each year will be to find a warm, sunny spot with soft salty air. I don't even require terribly warm...but just warm enough that massive bundling is not required.

The best gift I could have this week was going to bed and waking up to the water crashing on the shore. Although Hilton Head's ocean isn't exactly the crashing type (very mellow), I still could hear it as all stress melted into the air. One of my favourite moments was watching Eric and Elle fly their kites that I acquired in Boulder's most interesting kite shoppe. The winds were absolutely perfect.

Overall, it was a fantastic Christmas season for me! I received very thoughtful gifts, and despite my presence in Indianapolis for only a few days in December, I managed to spend quality time with some friends. I made a major dent in my doctoral writing that was enjoyable rather than pressured, and I had the fun of finding the perfect box for gifts. I am one of those pathetic types that finds a 'perfect box' and then looks for a gift to fit it. Rested, somewhat healed from my medical drama, and caught up on the 'little' things that drive me nuts during busy times, I am feeling very ready to hit the New Year parties in Asheville on Saturday! I'll start thinking about 2012 half-way through January....

Medical Drama

There are currently five medical problems that I am experiencing. I was only aware of one, and the onset of the second issue is what drove me into the MedCheck at 330am in the first place, but now I feel like one of those old people with the squeaky voice who's only conversation quality is a comparison of how many things were wrong with them.

The cold...check. Had a pretty good idea of it's existence.

The infection....definitely check. Thus explains the 330am visit to get through our wonderful system for drugs.

The back...ok, well, yeah. I knew something was wrong with it because the muscle, not bone, popped when I picked that box up incorrectly. The incredible pain and complete lack of motion range were additional clues. Also, when you've trained in martial arts for more than a decade, torn muscles and fractured bones are a little ho-hum. However, this issue seemed to be a far bigger deal to everybody than the reason I was there. At least I got some nice pain killers out of the trouble.

Stage 1 hypertension blood pressure....wow, could you make that any more dramatic? Also, could we consider the fact that my blood pressure is going to be through the roof as you list all the things that are wrong with me when all I want to do is sleep peacefully?

Let's see, there was one more, but I forget, and it's likely to not be important. Regardless, I think that I left MedCheck slightly more depressed than when I entered. At least I have home and drugs now, although I'm concerned that my little apothecary of orange pill dispensers from the pharmacy also reeks of old person issues.

Now to pack for a wonderful trip to a warm(ish) beach for the Christmas holiday week, which is by far the most likely best medicine I can get.

The Litigators (book review)

The Litigators by John Grisham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

The Gospel according to Coco Chanel (book review)

The Gospel According to Coco Chanel by Karen Karbo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Perceptions

Perceptions are such unique monsters. Just when I felt that the entirety of United States was insulted, outraged and generally cranky with TSA, I have discovered two new perceptions.

First, TSA is wonderful. If you will read my blog post about my experience with Border Control, you will come to realise that TSA does not randomly threaten violence and while there are horror stories of how they abuse their power, they have many lessons to learn to fully exploit that. Given all the bad press, their general demeanor has overall improved, making flying really quite fine... this is of course only my perspective, but I was amused how a truly horrible experience with a different branch could improve my flying time so dramatically.

Second, while adults are generally offended with the lack of privacy and runaround of disrobing half your clothes for security measures, it would appear that children, ie, my child, is offended with the advent of being left out of this chaos. When the TSA agent informed Elle that it was not necessary for her to take her shoes off to walk through security, she was enraged. "MOMMY AND DADDY'S SHOES GET TO GO THROUGH! MY SHOES NEED TO GO THROUGH!!!!!" Slightly bug-eyed from the shock of this announcement, he tried to assure her that this was a good thing and because she's so little, her shoes didn't need to go through. Wrong tact. Totally wrong tact. I went through at this point because I was a little embarrassed and felt it was more than Eric's turn to deal with Elle's odd little quirks (and there are many... so many). I gratefully missed the final round, but turned to see Elle's socked feet walking through the security 'thing' with her chin a bit high and an expression somewhat similar to what I always thought the Queen of Sheba would have. The poor TSA agent looked a little befuddled and was blinking several times at Eric, who apparently had opted to handle the situation by not handling it at all.

The trip went smoothly after that, besides of course the announcement to the entire (and rather small) plane that "MY PANTIES ARE STUCK ON MY BUTT!!!!" in her fury that I would not loosen the seat belt. I have seriously considered the possibility that she is the anti-Christ, and this manipulation is further proof. I cannot tell you how many people I watch her melt and how many compliments of "what a delightful child we have", which only solidifies my developing belief of her anti-Christ possibilities... after all, the anti-Christ fools everybody, right?

An exceptionally fine morning....

Despite my lack of morning prowess, this morning was an exceptionally fine one. After a night full of weird dreams and nightmares, I found the alternative of getting up a little early tolerable. Knowing that I had an 11a meeting, ie, before afternoon, did not please me, so I expected morning activities to be tinged with a bit of grumpiness. And I tried to maintain my status quo, but I failed.

A morning at a grocery store seemed to be the best way to maintain my grumpy state for a fine contribution of my presence in the meeting. However, the world was against me. Standing in the deli waiting for my turn to order cold cuts, this lady would not stop talking to me. I don't particularly care for talking at all in the morning, and I really hate to be chatted "at"...so this was a promising sign that my grumpy state would increase. However, she accidentally engaged me. I was rather upset with this as I actually smiled during this conversation. I would have to make up for that bit of friendliness and cheer later in the store.

Moving into the other aisles the morning stockers were very kind, always popping out of the way for my cart. More cheer. What the hell is wrong with the world? Finally I get to the cash-out lines and discover there is only one very long line. Excellent! I can stew in my bad behaviour and criticism...until the manager and co-manager opened a new line and personally escorted a few people, including me, into a new line, and were most professional. That's it. I gave up. Clearly The Fates had destined my day to be positive and I had to accept it. Embracing this new mindset, I smugly handed over my 'free drink' rewards card from Starbucks for the most expensive drink I could possibly think of, and gloated my whole way home of how lovely the morning was.

Mindsets are amazing things.

Welcome Home!

I say that with all the sarcasm I can possibly muster. After a glorious week of relaxed Canadian holiday in the adorable village of Niagara-on-the-lake, drinking absolutely sublime wine, eating lovely food, and having great scenery (Niagara Falls view from room), I wasn't terribly excited about returning, but Denver is next week, and Christmas in Hilton Head is close on it's heels. I was pretty sure that those details alone could buoy my spirits nicely throughout work and school for December.

That was until the border crossing. These people either need seriously scripts of Xanax or holiday time. They seized my car, pulling everything out of it, tore up stuff, and accused us of not being cooperative because we asked 1) what they were doing and 2) why they were being aggressive when they literally started screaming at us. After threatening Eric physically, our emotion was mostly shame of being a citizen of a country that greets anybody in this manner. They had no apology for being the worst assholes I have ever experienced, but did give me appreciation for the TSA having enough news spotlighted on them that they are somewhat normal. Trust me, the worst TSA nightmare I experienced was not topping the Border Control. The whole thing started because he asked my name three times, and I raised my voice each time for him to hear. He finally heard the third time, and he claimed I yelled at him. They accused Eric for having an issue when he simply asked what was going on in a seriously nice tone. Our takeaway is that you cannot ask anything and just about everything you answer will be twisted to be taken somehow offencively.

I was too scared to sleep because every time I closed my eyes I saw those five guys surrounding Eric ready to hit him, or envisioned their rage in the way that dreams do so unfortunately well in the few snatches of sleep I was getting. The fact that I had to get up at 5am the next morning for a 3.5 hour drive to attend four dreadfully tiring meetings at the university was not helpful to my already heightened state of exhaustion and tension. To make matters worse, it was pouring rain the entire time and every time I would even get close to the speed limit, I would start hydroplaning, resulting in being 10 minutes late to the first meeting.

Apparently the meeting was going poorly, so when I slipped in, my boss came up to me and told me to leave. I was a complete mix of emotions, from shocked to hurt to stunned to anger to frustration. Granted my previous 24 hours had left me in a particular state of feeling apprehensive towards anybody and everything, but I have never been told to leave a meeting I was requested to attend, especially one for which I traveled nearly 4 hours in really crappy weather to attend. This left me feeling pretty worthless and unneessary, but in a struggle with my emotions, I could see everybody around me was incredibly tense. It would seem that the day is not going well here. At least the one meeting so far resulted well, so just two more and then I can work very hard to pretend Sunday and Monday never happened. It's just a black hole, and those two days are heading not quickly enough into the vast emptiness of lost memories.

Much orc slaying will commence later.

So so so so tired....

Everybody is tired, right? We all have this fantastic habit of packing our days with appointments and tasks, and if completely necessary, making the mundane feel like it's incredibly urgent. While it is true that all the deadlines I have are self-inflicted and self-paced, exhaustion and trapped are the primary emotions. Must I absolutely have a doctorate? No, but if I want to truly advance in my career, the educational industry demands it. Must I push myself on the doctoral writing demands? Probably not, but frankly, paying $4,000 a quarter is not something that I like to inflict simply because I feel the need to slow down the pace. Should I drop my job so I can focus on it better? Well, they are the ones shelling out the $4,000 a quarter. Perhaps not then. Travel less? Only when I'm pushing up daisies. That's the one thing that is incredibly motivating and keeps me thinking. I considered cutting back conferences, but that feeds directly into my consultancy, and when the PhD is done, I want that to grow.

I knew this quarter will kill me, and it did. But I have one week left and survival is promising. The last course with the most incredibly obtuse facilitator is nearly over with the capstone project (qualitative research proposal) complete. Pathetically, I looked at my current grade (98%) and then looked at the value of the project (10%)... and all I could think of was "I have a really solid B if I just blow that whole crazy project off." Definitely missing on the learning mindset, but hopefully you can forgive me when you consider that I was also trying to wrap up a 120 page thesis on systems in education. Don't worry, I did the project, and I'm glad for the experience, even if the facilitator is useless.

One week left and I still have six major projects that I intended to complete before the quarter ended, but frankly, the amount of teaching and learning besides my job and clients that took place in September, October, and November leaves me with a sense of "wow, only six projects that I didn't get to complete :P

The value I am getting out of this is realising that I can still enjoy the little things during deadline focused times. Taking up the cello has been a lot of fun, and my teacher said that I have natural talent. While it is possible he was ensuring my continual return, my psyche is going to choose that I actually can play the thing. It is a tonne of work to do two completely different things at the same time, but it takes my brain away from complex adaptive systems within education, qualitative methodology and the looming dissertation proposal.

Also, Starbucks knows me by name.

Perhaps these jitters should be addressed.

Meanwhile, I have skipped to the really important project....packing for a computer-free trip with friends, wineries, waterfalls, and fantastic food.

Recess!!

The Tehran Intiative (book review)

The Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

2011 Halloween, another awesome weekend!

Best.Holiday.Ever.

Seriously, I love Halloween so much. We need more holidays that involve dressing in costumes, masks, watching scary movies, and maximising party opportunities ... all in my favourite autumn season!

Slight rant directed towards the absurd special event that the Indianapolis Zoo hosted. ZooBoo has been excellent in the past, but this time the grand total of candy that Elle collected was 8 pieces. Yes, you read that correctly. Why bother with giving the kids the bags? What they really needed were folders, to collect all the crap paperwork they passed out. Nothing like turning on a 4 year old like coupons for kids meals at barely mid-range chain restaurants, advertisement for a private school, toy advertisements, and my personal favourite, a discount for a Sam's Club membership. It would seem that the zoo rented out tables to companies and this was what was deemed acceptable. I thought Halloween was safe from the commercialism disaster that Christmas has been transformed into, but holiday commercialism is another entire rant that I'll spare you for now :) Anyway, Princess for ZooBoo and Jessie from Toy Story on Halloween night, her awareness of the awesomeness for dress up takes another gigantic step forward!

Meanwhile, the adult Halloween marches onward! Eric had the good fortune to be sitting next to Michelle Branch on his flight back from Denver, who gave him two tickets to the first annual Gravedigger Ball that she was opening. I went as a gypsy or pirate, and Eric went as a 1930's bartender...

Michelle Branch, dressed as a safari member from an earlier era did a wonderful job with the opening and exposed me to her music for the first time. Anybody that leads the crowd in the theme song for the Flintstones for her encore and knows the tunes for multiple levels of Mario gets my praise and respect regardless of her tendency towards country music :P

The costume contest produced some seriously amazing costumes. Absolutely awesome and levels of effort that I can only barely conceive. I posted my favourite, and am very sad that I didn't get Frankenstein and his bride. They deserve honours as well.

The Mad Hatter got my vote.

The Hans Solo deal was pretty popular.

These guys were great :)

The photo does not do these guys justice...best undead I've seen!

The start, not end, of the journey!

When individuals who have earned a PhD or EdD indicate their level of education on every piece of correspondence possible and / or have to include this tiny little fact in verbal communication as well, I feel like they saying to anybody who will listen that they have achieved greatness. It's possible. However, as I come closer to the end of my own PhD, I feel deep frustration that I see so much more out there that I cannot possibly understand in my lifetime. The degree holders can only claim a very deep knowledge of a very small vertical slice within a specific discipline. For example, as I earn a PhD in Education, I can babble on forever about adult learning needs, specifically for the online platform. Can I talk to you about educational technology? Only from what I read on the aside.... Can I talk to you about K-12 needs? Only from what my peers in college specialise in K-12 talk about... Can I talk to you about institutional effectiveness and assessment? Only from what I've experienced in the workplace as it touches my own area of expertise... My point being, there is SO MUCH about education that I can't claim expertise about, but essentially will be writing a book about my area of expertise, and already have written three 120 page theses about it. This isn't even bringing in different disciplines, but merely staying with the single discipline of education (although I feel it's essential that we become more interdisciplinary in our approaches).

As I see people create email addresses such as "doctorjohndoe" or "JohnDoePHD" or drjohn", I seriously wonder about their capability of seeing the world on a bigger scale than their own self-created bubble. Other times I see facilitators tell students to "call me Dr. Joe" or whatever. My thoughts are if you really want to "connect" with your students by being a peer in leadership form (as adult faculty should be), the reference to masses of hours focusing on a super small area of expertise is not the way to do it.

Granted, getting a post-graduate degree is much more than whatever focus you chose. The rigor and structure I have learned to extrapolate data for positive application, run valid studies, and become a change agent on a systemic level is all credited to my experiences with learning post-graduate level research and the mindset instilled by my university, Walden. However, as I look at what's left...two more theses, two more short residencies, and dissertation, I feel incredibly inadequate than before I started the program three years ago. While my focus is very strong on my particular vertical slice right now, I am very excited about graduating, taking a long holiday in Africa, and then coming back to delve into other vertical slices, cross communities with interdisciplinary studies, and discovery boundary objects that I can use for multiple communities to experience the discoveries that a particular discipline has experienced.

My fellow doctoral candidates and graduates, this is not the end. Don't walk away saying "phew, life goal complete". We are merely getting the star chart for discovering galaxies. We don't need to brag, remind, or fulfill minor insecurities with our status of past accomplishment by putting PhD and EdD on everything (putting aside the fact that it's necessary for some things, such as publications and vitas).

Meanwhile, to everybody who knows me...if I pull that "look at my three letters" stunt after I graduate and the celebration party, kick me really hard.

...in neutral...

Being in neutral in very difficult for highly goal oriented individuals. Eric and I are experiencing wonderful progress with our long term goals and sitting in neutral for our short term goals. What's next? We know of two very clear options in front of us, and one option is not moving in any direction for us to know if we are going with the second option. Given that both futures involve logistical effort, we are trying to ignore the future and enjoy the present. Indianapolis is not exactly a favourite location, but it is a convenient lily pad until future notice. Meanwhile, attention to the small things has been a requirement to not go mad with desire to know what, or I should say, where is in front of us!

Frankly, my very wise friend said that I should take this 'down time' as an opportunity to focus on my PhD and Elle, which is absolutely correct. Elle's growth has been astounding, both physically and mentally as she is now reading and writing, and although I am very glad she has moved on from her one-eyed comic head drawing series to two-eyed comic head series to snails to the current passion of kites. I have no pictures taken of this particular fad yet, but I find the kites far less unsettling than gigantic eyes staring at me.

So what am I doing these days? Writing. Drinking excellent wine. Writing. Trying to learn meditation (another post entirely). Writing. Teaching Elle. Writing. Wishing I knew what the next port of call was. Writing. Taking quick trips out of state to pretty places. Writing. Trying new gins. Writing. Investigating new excellent cuisine in Indianapolis. Writing.

Less writing: T-1 year. Fine. Maybe 18 months, but I'm really hoping not.

Growing Up? Maybe....

When you are doing something that you know is completely awesome and cool, there are two emotional reactions. The first is a somewhat natural tendency to think "I bet they wish to be in my shoes!" This occurs especially in goal-oriented people that are constantly striving to improve a situation or circumstance. The second is the happy contented sense of thinking how wonderful life is. I believe the transition between these emotions is the cusp of true self-security and maturity, and a transition that I am finally experiencing. Shutting down my Facebook account was the first signal to me that I was still experiencing the first emotion as it was all too easy in my excitement to post obnoxious snippets that essentially said "I am here, where are you?!" Something that I do not want to necessarily do is to disappear into a hole, but blasting my news and life into people's faces constantly seems equally unfriendly. I definitely recognise the value of virtual social sharing, but I also recognize that it is not the best platform for my personal growth. I do love to share my experiences and will be adding links to my Picasa albums in my blog, as well as creating real stories rather than the short hand method of communication blasts. If people wish to share in my life, and I hope you do, please pop by my blog and check out my fun crazy life. Otherwise, just give a ring. Or stop by. Or email :) However, the shotgun approach of my perceptions of a fantastic life is over...

The Last Stand (book review)

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Baking Tips

After reading this post, it may surprise you that I can plan, organize, and cook multiple course meals for many people. I can put on some pretty good parties, be a decent bartender, and have great appetisers. However, what I most certainly lack is the necessary skills for baking. There's zero art to it except in the confines of science. This is where things start going terribly wrong. Sadly, I have not even seriously cooked in a long time because travel life while studying and working is not particularly conducive to many happy hours in the kitchen surrounded by copper, spices, and wine. Thus, my first time back in the kitchen in many moons provides some important reflective insights that I thought I would share with you.

1. When putting the mixer things in the mixer, do not test if they are really in there to stay while holding on to them. They still fall out and numbness follows for a very long time.
2. When using molasses, it is strongly recommended to either a) put the cap back on immediately or b) not put it on the edge of the work area you're focused. Very bad things happen, especially if clumsiness has any potential factor.
3. Do not assume that if you can get the measuring item into the jar of whatever you're getting, ie, sugar, that means you can also manipulate the substance into your measuring device and retract it. In fact, if there is any similarity in size, you are looking at approximately 10 minutes of anger and suddenly having empathy with the sheep that gets their heads stuck in fences.
4. Baking measure a lot of stuff. I mean, a LOT of stuff. Have lots of measuring devices available so you don't have to keep washing them absurdly thoroughly and trick your man into the washing. Another option is to plan out your dry measuring before the wet measuring, but option A is much easier.
5. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use the baking soda let in your refrigerator for two years. It turns odd colours. In fact, you may consider pitching it altogether.
6. Wearing dark clothes in any activity that involves flour is stupid.
7. When it says butter should be room temperature, it really means it. Otherwise it has a habit of slipping around, and possibly popping out and sticking to the oven range hood.
8. Do not expect a manicure to survive any type of baking effort.
9. It turns out that if you haven't used appliances in a long time, cobwebs develop. Check for these before you use them. If you don't, you then have to wrestle with the idea of just not telling the individual for whom you're baking or redoing the sifting. I'll leave it up to you on which option I selected.

Just for you to have a visual of what happens when you do not maintain the baking habit plus suck at it in the first place, please observe and vicariously learn through me :)

Iceland (book review)

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Harvesting!

My skill set does not involve gardening. I realise those who know me closely are simply shocked by this confession, but not only do I do not garden well, I kill any thing that tries to stand in my path. Apparently there are silly rules such as watering and other minor care taking matters. It turns out that there are individuals out there that really understand the nuances of gardening, including my father-in-law. I've seen his garden many times from their home's window, but don't recall actually visiting it in the 9 years that I've been aware of it's existence. Close-up experience with it is very cool however, as it provides masses of amazing fresh food.

Since our hotel in DC was a residence hotel with a full kitchen, we decided to take up their offer of some fresh veggies. I took the bucket and started in gleefully. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of harvestable veggies, I asked how much, but apparently it's been harvested already quite a bit, so I piggishly take as much as I possibly can believe that I'd cook. I felt like I was completely out of control at a store that was having a 'free day'.





The food this week has been very happy filled with freshness and delight! It's amazing how much more cool it is cooking with what you've picked yourself than having delivered to you.

Frankenstein (book review)

Frankenstein (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Mary Shelley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


View all my reviews

Of Saints and Shadows (book review)

Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews

Enough Reading... Some Mindset Reflections!

It seems that this poor blog is nothing but a repository of my book reviews! Unfortunately my only "free" time is to let my brain melt into books with very little true Thoughtful Spot time that is so needed. A more academic and less fun term could call it reflection time. However, with my brain full of exciting new ideas and passions from the conference, I have to detox before moving on to my more mundane brain space landlords, such as career related needs and never ending doctoral writing.

Although I do not cross discussion topics between my personal Thoughtful Spot from my career blog much like my Facebook account is personal and my Twitter account is professional, I was completely inspired by the motivational keynotes that acted as positive mindset development bookends to my own learning. Granted, the conference was about something specific (Agile), the topic itself to me is a mindset and approach to curriculum design and administration; however, the keynotes took me to a personal level and should be shared here too.

Here's what I wrote concerning my conference reflections on career blog.

Dr. Fredrickson kicked off the conference with a great connection of positivism into how experience life. Having positive emotions help us see more possibilities and are naturally creative, aligning well with the agile mindset. Those emotions expands our awareness and transforms us. However, masking negativity with the cliché “be positive” smiley emoticons is simply toxic insincerity, as noted by Dr. Fredrickson. Rather, we should create a mindset of positivity through being open, authentic, appreciative, and kind. This was anchored with (I assume Dr.) Linda Rising who pulled Dweck’s mindset research into the sphere of agile terminology, comparing fixed and agile mindsets. She pointed out that our mindsets determine goals, failure reactions, belief about effort and attitude towards others’ success. She gives a wonderful door of hope that mindsets are simply beliefs that can be changed through brain exercise and the desire for learning and challenge.

Cure (book review)

Cure by Robin Cook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Devil's Gate (book review)

Devil's Gate by David Roberts

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Antartica: A Call to Action (book review)

Antarctica: A Call to Action by Sebastian Copeland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

The Invisible Man (book review)

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (book review)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

A Bit of Kindness (philosophy)

I am an extremely reserved person, so when somebody offers me an umbrella while I'm standing in the rain, I naturally want to say "no, thank you". You would be correct to say I am insane and overly reserved, but there you are. My brain was filled with the necessary obligations of social grace. We would have to banter lightly, return it with thanks, and continue bantering when appropriate throughout the visit to Newgrange and Knowth. As cold as that sounds, my brain immediately went to that and decided it was too tired to want to deal with such things, especially since getting Eric all to myself was a rare treat.

Of course Eric accepted the umbrella. He doesn't filter everything nearly as concisely with pre-determined outcomes.

Sometimes I need to turn my brain off.

Yes, the banter occurred. However, they were such nice people, I found it easy to do so. No posturing or travel comparisons. No suggestions that two American couples finding themselves at one of the most popular tourist locations of ancient culture was ironic. No Facebook connections, which while it is a social networking group, I am often amazed at the lack of connection people have to accept a Facebook friend.

They were simply very nice people who were of similar mindset and enjoyed traveling. The banter was intelligent and un-restrained, but I wasn't bothered to part ways. Umbrella returned, and back into my safe lovely shell.

The next day I excitedly whisk Eric off to the Hill of Tara and other such similar ancient sites. Yes, it's raining, and we're both starved, so we head to the little coffee shoppe that I fell in love with during my last visit just at the bottom of the Hill.

I walk in to look down at the table (seeing Eric is surprised) only to find the umbrella gentleman. While we had only traded first names at the end of Newgrange yesterday, it suddenly seemed very nice to know his name at this completely un-awkward meeting. It was a pleasant bumping into... He informed me that his wife was in the shoppe and I bustled off, finding all sorts of lovelies for Elle, and naturally meeting up with his wife. We chatted about cupcakes and the return of their popularity.

All of it was quite nice. Neither couple was bound to each other's whims or expectations, but simply maintained an ability to have a conversation at two different locations in Ireland, and then a final wave (though we did not know it) in the medieval graveyard next to the ancient one.

Eric made a very good point. "We would have been standing here awkwardly waiting for our bagels and tea hoping for the couple at the table to be leaving; rather we enjoyed conversation with two extremely nice people in this place where we know no-one, and got to borrow an umbrella to boot."

I really couldn't argue. I told my brain to stop over-analysing everything, and enjoy people more. Yes, there will be the idiots, but what do we lose by keeping up a guard against the inevitable idiots that usually get past the guard anyway?

The gentleman took Eric's email address. Whether we here from them or not, we'll see. I definitely wouldn't mind bumping into them again and enjoying a cupcake. If not, we had a lovely bumping into in Ireland.

The Wise Man's Fear (book review)

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Earth (book review)

Earth (the book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race by Jon Stewart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

The Name of the Wind (book review)

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

London's Strangest Tales (book review)

London's Strangest Tales by Tom Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews


Thank you Liz! It was a great Christmas present :D

Freakanomics (book review)

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Posh Experience

If you are ever in Scottsdale and love food, it is a requirement to eat at Posh, an improv gourmet restaurant. A fantastic wine list is coupled with several items of food that you can cross out if you're not interested and want to narrow the possibilities of what you'll get depending on how many courses you order.

Despite my goal to try anything that I was either unfamiliar or considered a delicacy, I could not accept pig ears as a choice. However, I did reject the 'typical' food such as short ribs, filet mignon (calm down Ellen), and some typical white fish. Items remaining on the list included sweetbreads, frog legs, kangaroo, clams, oysters, and ahi tuna. Below is the glorious result...

Komodo oysters with pink peppercorns and radish leaves
Although I prefer northwest and northeast oysters, these South Sea oysters were nothing to sniff at - very soft and buttery with a touch of soy sauce added.

Ahi tuni (rare of course) with sweet/sour foam and some sort of amazing soy sauce. Cucumber and blood orange slice are on the side.

My typical craving for Wasabi was completely forgotten with this sweet/sour foam that mixed perfectly with the soy sauce, which is amazing since I am not a soy sauce fan.

Lightly fried frog legs with mango salsa and terrine.

Frog legs were less impressive for me. Mostly tasteless (but very delicate), it takes on the flavour of whatever is supporting it; in this case, the mango concoction. I also discovered that while edible, terrine is not necessarily my cup of tea.

Sweetbread (veal glands) on a bed of steamed spinach and vanilla/pepper sauce.

I have a principle against eating veal because of how veal comes to us, but I had to give this a try since one of my favourite Rex Stout characters, Nero Wolfe, adored sweetbreads. It was excellent, but I doubt that I'd order it again.

Kangaroo with swiss chard, parsnip puree and blueberry sauce.

This was fantastic, and probably even more loved by me given it's slightly gamey and lean meat flavour that I recognised so quickly from growing up with venison. The blueberry sauce and first piece of kangaroo did not survive in time for me to remember snapping the photo.

Creme brulee with edible flower.

I was actually a wee bit disappointed in this. While I adored the flower, I like my creme to be warmer than what was given me. I also felt the torching was a little overdone.

White chocolate, ganache and cream plopped on an anti-griddle.

These were to die for....I wanted to instantly buy an anti-griddle for such amazing treats. Little post-dessert lollipops, I could wipe them out by the dozens.

Fatal Journey (book review)

Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson by Peter C. Mancall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

The Scarpetta Factor (book review)

The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

The Joy of English Beauty....